Shock
by The Writress of Many Fandoms
Summary: In a devastating accident a father kills his daughter. His emotions decide the best way to deal with it is to go on autopilot. Rated T for character death.
1. Chapter 1

**So I know Inside Out hasn't come out yet, but this just came to me when I was daydreaming and I had to write it down. It's based off a true story, but slightly modified and from Fear's perspective. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Make sure Paige is out of the way," said Fear nervously.

"Already done. Don't worry," Joy responded from the console. Fear still wished he could be up there to keep an eye on their three year old daughter. If she darted in front of the big truck while they backed it up...

Fear nearly screamed as they lurched forward. "What was that?"

"Just the truck! These things aren't exactly smooth, Fear!"

The purple emotion sighed, staring nervously at the field of vision and wishing Joy would adjust it just enough that Paige was visible.

Being a father meant double duty for Fear, who now was in charge of protecting both John and his daughter. He once again scanned the yard, and jumped when he realized Paige was not in sight.

Without a second thought Fear sprung towards the console, shoving Joy out of the way and turning John's head this way and that.

"Where is she? Where is she?" he shouted, panicking.

"Calm down, Fear! I'm sure she's–"

BAM! Joy was was cut off as they lurched forward once more. Fear immediately stopped the truck, shakily making John jump out.

"Paige?" he looked around, heart in his throat. All the emotions were silent, not stopping Fear in his frenzied search.

Sadness cried out as their daughter's strawberry-blonde hair came into view, soaked with blood.

"No! Paige!" Fear leapt into action, attempting to perform CPR while screaming for help. It wasn't long before an ambulance appeared, whisking their daughter away.

Sadness darted forward, pushing the "cry" button before backing away. No emotion touched the console, only stared numbly as John's field of vision was blurred by tears, sobs wracking his whole body.

* * *

 ** _ONE MONTH LATER_**

* * *

"P-pull the plug?" Sadness' eyes widened with shock, filling with tears. "We can't do that to our daughter! That's killing her!"

"We've already killed her," sighed Disgust. She was sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. "There's just no saving Paige. That's what the doctor said, anyway."

"Yeah, w-we don't want to take up space in the h-hospital, guys," stammered Joy, attempting a smile.

"So who's going to do it?" Fear questioned. Silence followed. Nobody seemed willing. Fear sure wasn't.

Finally Anger stood with a sigh. "No need to keep the doctors waiting."

So John choked out a "yes" and followed the doctor to Paige's hospital room. He kissed his daughter's forehead with a tenderness Fear didn't know was possible for Anger. Then the plug was pulled, the machines turned off. The heart monitor's beeping ended with Paige's life.

Anger stepped back from the console and disappeared upstairs.

"Do... Do you want to drive, Sadness?" Joy questioned. The response was a thud usually only caused by Fear. Sadness had fainted.

"Sadness!" Joy leapt from the couch, rushing to the unconscious emotion's side. "Help me, guys!"

"W-what about John?" Fear protested.

"Just put him on autopilot!"

Fear hesitated. They had never used autopilot before. Glancing back at Joy, who was hoisting Sadness onto the couch with the help of Disgust, he reached over to the far side of the console. He lifted the cover off the small blue button, took a deep breath, and pressed it.

The levers and switches then moved by themselves, as did John, who turned and left the hospital room.

Fear sat down on the stool and watched them drive home like clockwork. Emotionless. And that was how it would stay. He had failed at protecting Paige. The only way to save John from a breakdown was if nobody interfered.

Autopilot was better than grief.

Emotionless was better than heartbroken.

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 **Yes, I know :'(. Please tell me what you think! Was it good? Did it make you cry? Should I continue it or leave it as a one-shot? Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Due to popular demand, I'm back! I hope you enjoy this chapter, in Disgust's perspective.**

Twenty years passed.

John and his wife had three more kids, who all grew up with a detached father who had never gone through the grieving process.

In the beginning, the emotions had agreed to just keep autopilot on for a few days, just until Sadness recovered.

"Things will get back to normal," Joy had reassured them.

But even after Sadness woke up, she wasn't the same. The only words she spoke were barely intelligible whispers. She spent most of her time curled up in a ball, staring blankly at a wall.

Despite Joy's encouragements, Disgust had had a feeling things weren't about to change. She definitely wasn't surprised when Fear convinced them to leave autopilot on for just a little longer.

But Disgust was no fool. She saw it in Fear's nervous glances, back and forth from the automated control panel to the other emotions, as if he expected a confrontation at any moment.

 _Why doesn't he just say it straight out? We're staying this way for good._

Disgust sometimes thought of their other children, who were in college or older. What did they think of John? One of Disgust's many responsibilities was to make sure other people thought well of them. She wasn't really doing a good job. Their kids probably thought John was a terrible father.

Still, what could she do about it? Any damage was probably well beyond repair.

 _My life is meaningless._

"Checkmate." Anger said with a half smirk. Disgust did a quick scan of the chess board to ensure he wasn't wrong.

With a sigh, she pushed the board away from her. "That's right, genius." It was a simple win, one she should have noticed. But her thoughts had been elsewhere.

"I couldn't help but notice that your head wasn't really in the game," Anger commented.

Disgust would usually respond with an eye roll or a sarcastic comment about his oh-so-caring nature, but she needed to vent to someone.

"Look at us, Anger." She stood, gesturing around headquarters. Fear paused his nervous pacing to look at her anxiously. Joy remained sleeping on the couch, with Sadness sitting next to her staring at nothing. "We're useless. Why do we stay this way?"

"I-it's what's best for John," stammered Fear.

"I know; that's what you always say!" Disgust sighed. "But what if..." She turned to the field of vision. "What if John could change?"

She glanced back to see Anger giving her a strange look.

"Oh my god, that was so cheesy," she groaned, immediately regretting what she had said. "Just stop listening to me."

"No, you're right!" said Joy, who Disgust hadn't realized was awake. She sat up, her concerned gaze flitting to Sadness for a moment before she continued. "It really is about time we did something."

"Like that?" Anger offered, pointing to a poster they were passing.

Grieving Parents Support Group, Disgust read.

"Where is it?" she questioned. It was behind them, and autopilot was not about to turn around.

Joy hurried over to the row of new memories, and peered into the newest grey orb.

"4670 Community street," she announced. "First session is in half an hour."

Disgust didn't waste any time. She sprinted towards the control panel and pressed a few buttons. Within moments John's course was set to the address.

"I think we'll make it in time," she said as they turned around.

"What did you just do?!" exclaimed Fear. "W-we need to leave it on autopilot!"

"We're here to look out for John," she answered simply. "So I'm getting him help."

 _It's time for change._

 **And this time, I will definitely post at least one more chapter. I still haven't seen Inside Out, so those of you privileged ones who have, please tell me how I did on portrayals. Until next time...**


	3. Chapter 3

**I finally saw Inside Out, and it was amazing! I now have a bit more context to work with and a few regrets, but here we are.**

Sadness couldn't sleep. Then again, she barely ever did anymore. But she couldn't stop thinking about what they would do tomorrow.

They had been going to the support group for over a month now, and the final day would be reenactment therapy. That was tomorrow. Susan, the group leader, had informed John of what they would be reenacting: The day Paige was unplugged.

Sadness dreaded reliving the moment. Joy had tried to stow the memories away, sending them off to long-term memory, but they always found a their way back to headquarters and would play themselves time and time again. Sadness didn't understand how seeing their daughter's death in third-person would help.

The therapy had so far done nothing; autopilot was working smoothly and no emotion was willing to touch the control panel. Sadness was looking forward to the sessions being over so they could spend more time at home doing nothing. It was better that way.

Before she knew it the headquarters were lighting up as John awoke. The other emotions lazily wandered down near the control panel, and Sadness plunked herself down at her usual spot on the couch, resuming her stare into space.

She was more aware than usual, curious despite herself about how support group would turn out. John went about his regular emotionless routine, while all the emotions half anticipated, half dreaded the therapy.

Sadness tuned into Susan's gentle words at just the right moment. "There's been a change of plans."

"That's never good," murmured Fear.

"We'll be reenacting a different scene; the day you hit Paige."

"What? She can't do that!" exclaimed Anger. "She lied to us!"

Sadness wondered if he would actually touch the control panel and refuse, but instead the red emotion just remained seated, silently fuming.

Sadness wasn't too happy about the situation either, but she still watched with more interest than usual as the man pretending to be John knelt down next to the woman playing their daughter. "Her hair looks so much like Paige's," murmured Joy wistfully.

Sadness nodded in agreement, and suddenly the lady wasn't someone acting for reenactment therapy, she was Paige, their beloved daughter, _Sadness'_ beloved daughter, and she was calling out to her.

With more purpose than she had had in years, Sadness rose from the couch and stood in front of the control panel, watching Paige's strawberry blonde hair for a moment.

"Sadness, what are you doing?" questioned Fear, obviously shocked.

Sadness didn't reply. She only knew it was time to make it up to Paige. The moment she took control, autopilot shut off and the panel faintly glowed a pale blue.

For the first time in twenty years, John felt something. And he felt it strongly. He, a fifty-one year-old man, openly wept, kneeling next to his daughter and blubbering, "I'm sorry!" over and over.

As if Sadness had opened a floodgate, all the other emotions rushed forward, wanting to add their own expertise to the situation. John was angry at himself for killing his own daughter, fearful of what that meant for him, disgusted at what a poor father he had been, sad about all that he lost, and yet joyful that there was finally something other than numbness in his life. After decades of purposelessness, everything suddenly became clear.

Dozens of multicoloured memories rolled into headquarters and lined up next to the dull grey orbs, lighting up headquarters in a way Sadness forgot was possible. Memories without emotion were grey right from the start, resulting in them being forgotten much quicker.

Sadness was still doing her job, depressing as it was, but she couldn't help but watch as dark corners suddenly brightened with the fresh glow of new memories.

Joy gasped. "Look! A Core Memory!" One rainbow orb had taken a different path, and had fit itself among the other six worn down, greying Core Memories.

After John had gone on autopilot, it wasn't long before the Personality Islands turned an emotionless grey, then were Forgotten altogether. John was a blank slate, without feeling or personality. The Core Memories sat collecting dust, serving no purpose.

Until now.

The emotions abandoned their post at the control panel to watch the new island form, giving John time to recover from his outburst.

Sadness pressed herself close to the glass to watch the island rise from the ashes of their old life.

This was a new dawn, the beginning of an era of emotion and redemption. And Sadness knew that she for one would no longer be staying away from the control panel.

Autopilot was a thing of the past.

It was okay to feel sad sometimes.

 **Fin. :') I'm very happy to finally finish a story on FF, even if it only had three chapters. I hope you enjoyed it, and please tell me what you thought of it! Reviews are my favourite thing! Thanks so much for reading!**


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